Description
The lateral plates (lateral laminae or lateral pterygoid plates) are the thin, curved, inferiorly projecting bony plates found along the lateral aspects of both the right and left pterygoid processes of the sphenoid bone. On its corresponding side, each lateral plate:
—consists of a pterygospinous process of sphenoid bone;
—contributes to the formation of pterygoid and infratemporal fossae;
—provides origin sites for medial and lateral pterygoid muscles, as well as an attachment site for a pterygospinous ligament;
—articulates with a palatine bone.
